Leadership Development Articles

Have you ever had a mentor? Someone who took you under his or her wing to show you the ropes? Someone who freely gave their time and shared their knowledge and experience to assist you in your own growth and development?

I can think of a couple of really good mentors I have had over the course of my career. These individuals helped shape my view of leadership and created my belief that a leader’s job, in part, is to develop future generations of leaders. They provided a safe space for me to be vulnerable, ask questions and explore ideas without any fear. They freely gave their time, insight and experience to help me be successful.

“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.”
~Walter Lippmann, American Journalist

To say that we have a great divide in this country is an understatement. If I don’t agree with you then I am an “idiot” or “stupid.” (Words thrown out on social media from both parties.) In politics, compromise has become a bad word. Civil discussion is unpopular and loses out to vitriol, name-calling, and agenda pushing. (Bear with me, I promise this is not going to be a political post.)

“In times of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we’re made of.”
Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks

How you lead during times of adversity reveals you. Your leadership strengths are highlighted and your leadership flaws are accentuated.
Adversity is in the eyes of the beholder—it can be as small as a difficult employee or customer interaction or as large as a major lay-off or legal challenge. Regardless, how you behave under stress says a lot about your overall leadership.
It is easy to lead during the good times. While obstacles still exist, leaders tend to have the resources (time, people, money) to overcome them. It’s when times get tough that you really need to demonstrate your leadership skills. What leadership strengths or weaknesses do you reveal during times of adversity? What do your employees and colleagues say about you when things are stressful? These are the things I often hear about the “boss” when I work with clients:

Providing feedback (positive and constructive) is Management 101. Giving feedback to direct reports, co-workers or team members is essential to success. Providing upward feedback, while sometimes tricky, helps contribute to a transparent environment focused on growth and development.

If feedback is essential, why do we see so many situations where employees don’t know where they stand? Why do some employees only get feedback once a year during their performance review?

Which of the following situations sound familiar?

You notice that sales aren’t where they need to be so you make a sarcastic comment during a sales meeting hoping the team catches on that you aren’t happy.

Leaders play an important role in creating a motivating work environment. They set the tone by demonstrating respect, valuing employees, and creating a supportive and encouraging atmosphere.

While you can’t really motivate someone, you can create the conditions that encourage people to be motivated to perform at their best.

While money is important, it isn’t the most powerful or effective motivator. People want to be paid fairly, but it isn’t the force that generates discretionary effort. The following factors, when employed on a day-to-day basis, go a long way to creating an environment of high performance.

This is a pretty standard greeting as we acknowledge co-workers in the morning or begin a phone conversation. In fact, it’s become the kind of question that rarely, if ever, requires a serious response. If we do get a real answer, it often feels awkward or even intrusive.

For some time I’ve noticed that the response I usually get when I ask, “How are you?” is “busy,” “crazy,” or “stressed.” It seems like most of us are running in different directions, struggling to manage it all, and striving to make a difference in our personal and professional lives. The common thread is the desire to achieve a greater work-life balance.

My coaching practice presents me with the opportunity to work with leaders in a variety of organizations and industries. These are leaders at all levels struggling to make a difference in their work and in their lives. A common thread is the desire to find more “balance.” (While balance is the popular term, I think it is really more about integration; but, that’s a discussion for another post.)

We hear a lot about credibility these days, particularly as it relates to our elected officials (as in lack of credibility). It has even surfaced as we evaluate the results of our sporting events (e.g., deflated footballs, blown calls).

Credibility is the quality of being believable or worthy of trust. As a leader, it allows your employees to put their faith in you to make good decisions, communicate with transparency and be a reliable source of information. It allows your peers and your manager to know that you are communicating without hidden agendas and that you have the organization’s best interest in mind.

Have you ever had a mentor? Someone who took you under his/her wing to show you the ropes? Someone who freely gave their time and shared their knowledge and experience to assist you in your own growth and development? I can think of a couple of mentors that I have had over the course of my career. These individuals helped shape my view of leadership and created my belief that a leader’s job, in part, is to develop future generations of leaders.

For over a decade, the focus of leadership and professional development has been to emphasize people’s strengths rather than concentrate on weaknesses. The concept was popularized by Gallup researchers and led to a series of StrengthsFinder books and tools. For those unfamiliar, the StrengthsFinder is an assessment that reveals dominant “themes” that help people focus on their strengths and abilities and center their work and lives on them. The premise is that it makes more sense to leverage strengths and talents versus trying to address shortcomings.